E.040 The flats 1991

• I. 1st state of 5

  

  Soft-ground etching. A block of Art Deco flats, with a central tower, a balcony on the upper storey, and windows to either side. At the front is a post-and-lintel archway to the entrance, which is hidden by shrubs. To the left of the flats is a fragment of the neighbouring building. Standing before it is a figure, who casts a shadow on the wall.

  Pale grey impression on wove paper, printed by Rick Amor in his Dunmoochin studio. Inscribed in pencil, below the plate mark: lower left: ‘1 [circled]’; lower right: signed and dated ‘Rick Amor ’91’.

• II. 2nd state of 5

  

  A web of etched lines has been added across large areas of the plate, creating a much darker effect.

  Impression on wove paper, printed by Rick Amor in his Dunmoochin studio. Inscribed in pencil, below the plate mark: lower left: ‘2 [circled]’; lower right: signed and dated ‘Rick Amor ’91’.

• III. 3rd state of 5

  Major architectural details that were formerly illuminated have been darkened with etched lines and loose strokes; more loose horizontal strokes have been added to the foreground, and oblique strokes now extend from the shadow of the figure. The central balcony has been covered with light horizontal strokes, as has the empty square area at the upper right of the tower. The areas of masonry framing the windows have been burnished, in order to modulate the grey and black tones.

  Impression on wove paper, printed by Rick Amor in his Dunmoochin studio. Inscribed in pencil, below the plate mark: lower left: ‘3 [circled]’; lower right: signed and dated ‘Rick Amor ’91’.

• IV. 4th state of 5

  Drypoint has been added to the sky and to the dark areas of vegetation. The windows to either side of the balcony, the door leading onto the balcony, and the central door below, have all been burnished. The square entrance arch has been burnished to make it lighter.

  Impression on wove Stonehenge paper (according to Amor’s intaglio record books), printed by Rick Amor in his Dunmoochin studio. Inscribed in pencil, below the plate mark: lower left: ‘4 [circled]’; lower right: signed and dated ‘Rick Amor ’91’.

• V. 5th and final state (Featured Image)

  

  The rectangular wall behind the figure at left has been burnished, as have the upper windows and the area around the window to the left of the balcony.

  Impression on wove Stonehenge paper (according to Amor’s intaglio record books), printed by Rick Amor in his Dunmoochin studio. Inscribed in pencil, below the plate mark: lower left: ‘AP’; lower centre: ‘The Flats’; lower right: signed and dated ‘Rick Amor 91’.

• No edition

• Comment

  The building depicted here is a block of Art Deco flats in Victoria Parade, East Melbourne, a location close to Melbourne’s CBD. This building features in three of Amor’s prints, as well as in one of his paintings, and has been depicted by the artist from various angles. In all of these portrayals, the structure is enveloped in an air of mystery that is produced by an interplay of shadows, and by the manner in which figures are placed in its vicinity. E.040 represents the building’s earliest appearance in Amor’s art and shows it at its most straightforward and hieratic.

  Amor’s records indicate that, initially, he gave the etching the prosaic title ‘House East Melbourne’; however, the only inscribed title is the shorter and more evocative The flats.

  The first state of the print is rendered in soft-ground etching and has all the characteristics of a drawing. In the subsequent states, the image took on an increasingly dark appearance, but the darkness was ultimately burnished to provide a subtler sense of light and a greater sculptural effect. Nevertheless, Amor decided against printing an edition of E.040, feeling that the work was ‘not good enough’.

  For the principal etching of this subject, see Three figures by a building, begun in 1995 (cat. no. E.098). A colour woodcut of the same title had been made by the artist in 1993.